Constant worry
by artislife18
Summary: Tony hates being fussed over.But the team cannot help but worry when he suddenly faints out of the blue. Pre-established steve/tony
1. Chapter 1

**Tony's POV**

Tickle in my throat? Wait,that's what woke me up?

Just as I turned around in my minimal efforts to get comfortable again and go back to sleep I felt cool fingers brushing through my hair only to stop at the nape of my neck and cup it and wow did that feel good.

"Good morning"

oh Steve!sweet sweet Steve was laying by my side ,sweat soaked in his morning jogging clothes. I turned my head to the side to give him a quick peck on the lips.

"Morning" I grumbled as I got up to head to the bathroom to get a ,well lets say late start to the day as Steve puts it. As I got up I felt the world tilt slightly and I stumbled

off to the bathroom still grumbling about super soldiers and how they can drink all they want the night before and still wake up as fresh as ever .That's what it was.

"Tony?I am going down to the common room to get breakfast,the rest of the team is already there. join us as soon as you are finished here,I'll make you a plate "

Steve said as he got up to leave the room. "Okay" The thought of breakfast made me feel nauseous ,still hung over from the small amount of scotch I had yesterday night at the gala,

damn am I getting that old? I quickly brushed my teeth and had a hot shower which only made me feel more uncomfortable and headed down to the common room ,maybe some fresh coffee can help.

As I walked into the common room I saw Clint perched on the arm of the sofa blowing on his hot whatever he had in his hawkeye mug. "Hey birdbrain,catch " I said to him as I threw my stark tablet at him that I was holding and watched him spill the hot (tea apparently) liquid all over himself trying to catch the tablet. Perfect aim,my ass. I smirked at his grumbled angry response about me being a man child as i walked into the kitchen to get myself a coffee as my morning was already feeling better after troubling Clint.

Bruce waved to as if to say good morning and the rest of the team just nodded in acknowledgement. I walked straight to the coffee maker and picked up a mug only to have it removed from my hands and replaced with orange juice. "urgh,yuck! what the hell, Steve!"

"A little healthy now and then won't hurt you tony "he admonished as he guided me to an empty chair at the table and put a plate of what looked like blueberry muffins and quinoa? ew.

I looked up to see everyone in the kitchen and realised only Clint was absent from their perfect breakfast team bonding moment. "Why is Clint sitting all the way out there on the sofa?"I asked to no one in particular and Nat gave an annoyed scowl before telling me "he knows what he did". Oh well, super spy problems. I looked down to grab a muffin from my plate only to notice it gone!

Nat,very sneaky indeed. I grumbled some more before I reached over and stole Bruce's as he gave me mildly irritated look but didn't seem to mind.I ate my muffin in peace and tried to quickly get away from Steve's 'eat your salad!don't make me hold you and force it down'.

But apparently quickly wasn't working for me today because just as I got up my vision blacked out and I felt himself pitching forward and someone grabbed me before I smashed my face into my unfinished plate.

"Tony?" "Tony!" "grab him!" urgh,what happened?I asked my sluggish brain as it struggled to process the situation.

I felt hands lowering me into the chair I had previously occupied.

"Tony? can you hear me?"

"oh look!Iron ass fainted!" I heard Clint say and I wanted to give him a snarky response but my brain still did not seem to have a handle on things.

"Tony,can you open your eyes?you with us?"Bruce said .That's a good question!why are my eyes still closed?I blinked my eyes open ,everything seemed hazy at first but got better quickly. I was seated sideways on the chair and my head was resting on Steve's abdomen with his hands cupping my face and head.

"I am okay, just testing all your reflexes"

Apparently no one believed me as Bruce's hands were suddenly all over my face and saying things like "he looks pale ,does he looked flushed to you?" I whined trying to get away from Bruce's attempt to get a pulse read from my wrist while Steve just held me tighter and said "this is why you don't skip your salad" and brushed his fingers through my hair.I looked up to glare at him but the concern and worry on his face shut me up and was more the reason to brush this off before it got his teammates too worried.

I swatted Bruce's hands away and pushed myself away from Steve and grabbed the glass of water someone was holding out to me,Nat, bless her!I drank the whole thing with all eyes on me.

"All better now!" I declared as I gave them an explanation "the shower was too hot,my blood pressure probably dropped"

"Are you sure?You seemed pale before the shower as well today, tony" Steve's over-concerned voice said. "I am fine, really.I need to head down to the lab now,widow's bites need an update."

"okay ,take it easy please?" Steve said as he let me go. "yes,daddy!" I quipped as I walked out,imagining the blush creeping up Steve's face.

Just as I left the common room I heard Bruce say "Jarvis,keep an eye on him please" I whined to myself as I entered the elevator. They were not going to let this go!

 **Steve's POV**

I watched with concern as Tony left the room with slightly less swagger than he usually does.

"Jarvis,keep an eye on him please"Bruce said "of course, doctor"

"Is everything alright with the man of iron?" Thor who had been watching the scene unfold silently so far finally spoke up. Steve looked up at everyone's face for the first

time and noticed they all looked just as concerned."I am not sure Thor,but I think he is just tired from yesterday's gala and the SI meetings .He really needs to take a break"

I sighed to myself as I tried to think of any other signs of sickness his boyfriend had showed in the past few days.

"He's been really over working it,and his eating habits are getting worse." Nat said as she picked up the glass of orange juice tony had not touched.

I sighed again at the mention of his eating habits ,tony really did not care about what he was shoving down his throat as long as it was NOT healthy."Yeah i am working on that"i quickly said.

"whatever you are doing,is clearly not working"Clint quipped.

I turned to look at Bruce who had been silent in this debate he seemed to be lost in his thoughts and this only worried me more because I knew Bruce zoned out when he was trying to make sense of something. "Bruce?You alright?" Nat asked as she followed my line of vision. "What?yeah,we really need to keep a better eye on Tony" and that's all he said as he walked out coffee in hand ,probably off to do some of his own lab work .Which made me feel better knowing Bruce would at least be around Tony while they were both working,just in case.

I shook my head to clear things and headed to shield headquarters to teach some basic self defence training to shield's agents as per fury's request.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony's POV

The elevator dinged loudly, an indication from Jarvis that I had been too lost in thought to get out of the elevator on my floor .I grumbled some more (I was doing that a lot more than usual today) before exiting the elevator only to trip over an excited dummy who had apparently been trying to get my attention since the elevator opened. I patted the robot on his arm and walked around him to my desk with the blueprints for the mark 50.

"J,can you pull up the blueprints for widow's bites " my workshop immediately livened up as I heard the familiar hum of his AI working. Soon I was lost to the world in the comfort of my workshop and my work. All thoughts on the events of the morning forgotten.

"TONY!" that's not part of the lyrics to black sabbath? I turned around to see banner waving his arm for me to come over to his desk. "J,kill the music"

I dropped the wrench I was holding in my hand and walked over to him,to see what he wanted me to look at. Banner and me occasionally asked each other for insight on our projects we are working on ,it has sort of become a ritual.

"what's up Bruce?" I asked as I tried to scan the papers on his desk so as to give me a head start.

"Its almost half past three. I thought we could head up together for lunch." it already lunch time?I could have sworn I just came down after breakfast.

" go ahead,I am so close to finishing widow's bite" I said as I turned to walk back to my desk.

"I wasn't asking ,we are going up for lunch whether you like it or not Tony,especially after today morning" goddammit!why did Bruce have to remind him?He was already feeling much better!

"Bruce! you worry too much. I am fine now,as I was fine this morning"I told him picking up my wrench again.

"Humour me ,then" I looked up at him "please Tony"

"Fine,come on let's go" I dropped my wrench and walked towards the elevator with Bruce.

"so what's for lunch? I am craving bacon!" I exclaimed as the elevator moved up.

"I really doubt that Steve is going to let you near bacon today " he told me with a smirk.

"That's not fair! Its not like I had a heart attack ! Bruce tell him to give me bacon!" I yelled for everyone in the common room kitchen to hear as the elevator opened. "

"Fat chance!" Clint shouted back without hesitation

I ignored him and went straight to Steve who was sitting with a newspaper(who even reads those?) on the couch and collapsed into him. "hi there,I missed you" I told him forcing him to put the newspaper down in exchange for me. He immediately pulled me closer running a hand through my hair "No amount of coddling is going to get you any bacon today." he said matter of factly. Damn!He knew me so well.

"hah!"

"Shut up Clint!"

Steve had quickly pulled me towards the kitchen table sitting next me while Bruce and Clint occupied the ones opposite to us.

"where are Thor and Tasha?" Bruce asked. "Thor is with Jane. Natasha is at shield,she had lunch with the shield team." oh that's right! Steve and Nat had gone to shield for some training. "Why didn't you eat with them Steve?" I asked him puzzled as to why Steve drove all the way back just for lunch.

"Because I like having lunch with my boyfriend" he said with a quick kiss to my lips.

"Get a room!"

"Clint! I am going to super glue your mouth closed if you don't shut up" I threatened him.

"only if you can catch me!" sticking his tongue out at me.

"who's the man child now?"

"Ok children,that's enough bickering for the day. Let's eat , I am starving!"

"He started it" I muttered before turning to the plate that appeared in front of didn't look that bad honestly. Looked like a wheat bread sandwich with green stuff inside it. But hey,on the bright side, look chips! I reached out to grab a handful from the open packet,only to have my hand swatted away by Steve with a "Eat your sandwich first".


	3. Chapter 3

Steve's POV

"Tony! Let's go we are going to be late" tony was basically the epitome of showing up 'fashionably late' to everything. But I loved watching his face light up from the attention he received after making the perfect entrance.

"I am coming! Have you seen my tablet? I swore I left it on the nightstand, and now it's missing."

I groaned at that "Tony, honey, it's a party for you and what you have accomplished with your new SI upgrade. How about you refrain from working for just the two hours and enjoy for a while huh?" Tony was always a workaholic, it's something I have always admired about him. But off-late it was getting out of control. Ever since the fainting episode one week ago he has seemed a little off. It's been obvious that he's been having trouble sleeping, I know that from all the tossing and turning he's been doing at night. He's not been spending as much time with the team either. I just hope this party is the break he needs.

"Okay, I am ready let's go! Happy is already waiting for us with the car. Are Clint and Tasha coming with us or are they driving on their own?" He said walking in dressed dashingly as always finally back with his usual finesse. I couldn't help stop for a moment and take him in. Tony stark in all his glory, and he was all mine. I grabbed his hand as he walked towards me and put my other arm around his waist pulling him in for a kiss. God how I loved this man. "Mm do you have any idea how much I love you?" I said nipping at his lip. I felt him relax in my hold as he melted against me sighing, our foreheads touching.

"Definitely not as much as how much I love you" He said breathily. "But probably close."

He let go of me, catching hold of my wrist pulling me towards the door, "let's go"

I followed him out the door "Clint and Tasha are already there waiting for us" I informed him.

The drive was quick enough, courtesy of Happy the ever skilled chauffeur who drove through the traffic with insane ease which almost had me jealous.

"Mr. Stark! What can you reveal about the new SI upgrade?" and so began the evening of paparazzi and drinks. I just wanted tony to have a little fun tonight.

TONY'S POV

The party was already in full swing. Perfect to make my entrance. I was not interested at all in tonight's party just wanted an early night with Steve. But everyone seemed so excited about the party especially Clint, so I couldn't cancel it. I decided to make a quick (but, grandeur entrance as usual) and have a couple of drinks and answer a few quick questions and make my way home. Bed sounded so good to me right now. I have been awake for the past 32 hours working on the suit which was damaged in the battle last week. You never know when it's going to be needed again. Best to always be prepared.

I felt Steve squeezing my shoulder to let me know he's off to meet some people. I nodded at him and watched him disappear. Seeing pepper at the bar I called out to her and headed towards her.

"Hey Tony! I see Steve dragged you here earlier than your normal" she said giving me a hug.

"He keeps me on my toes" I shrugged. I waved at the waiter to give me some scotch

"You up for meeting a few people? "She said already looking around searching for the people she needed me to get acquainted with.

"um think I am going to lay low today " I told her as I settled on one of the bar stools nursing my drink. That was enough for pepper to understand I didn't want to be disturbed. Bless pepper, she definitely knew me better than anyone. She gave me quick kiss on the cheek as she herded the people already lined up to speak to me towards her.

"TONY!" look at this!" I turned towards the voice to see Clint and Thor balancing three shot glasses on each of their shoulders trying not to spill any. Always trust these two to be the entertainers at a dull party. I gave them a thumbs up and a smirk before I turned back to the bartender indicating for a refill.

"You know Tony, it's not very nice if you don't participate in your own party" I turned towards Bruce who sat down on the stool next to me. He turned to the bartender and said "that's enough for him "and cut me off.

"Hey! Why did you do that!" I bellowed irritated. It was the only fun I was having all night and I had had only one.

He turned towards me giving me an appraisal before saying "Are you okay tony? Something wrong? I have never seen you this anti-social ever before"

"I am fine, just peachy. This party is a bummer. Who planned it anyway? I should fire him."

"Tony I don't think the problem is the party. I have watched you sitting here ever since you arrived and drinking the same glass of scotch for the past hour. Something is wrong, what aren't you telling me?"

I was tired enough already, why was Bruce being so question-y? I shrugged, turning towards the bar and grabbed the peanuts and popped a few in my mouth.

"Alright let's get this party started, shall we? "I said getting up from the stool and walking towards the crowd.

Steve's POV

Just as I started towards Tony I saw Bruce sit down next to him. Engaging him in some sort of conversation. Not even my serum enhanced hearing could pick up on what they were saying over the loud music. Tony has been sulking this whole time. But I was not able to get to him sooner, stuck in my obligations to greet everyone I knew.

I watched them talk for a while .Suddenly Tony got up and walked towards the center of the dance floor.

Well, look at that! Guess Bruce fixed whatever his problem was because all of a sudden Tony was the center of attention of the party and seemingly enjoying every moment of it.

Two hours later and after a lot of talking to people the party finally seemed to be winding down.

I tracked Tony down , he was sitting with Pepper and Rhodey and the rest of the team talking animatedly about something exploding. I walked up behind him and turned him around in his chair to face me "and then the ashes- Steve! I was just telling them about the purple monster we blew up the other day" I waved to pepper and Rhodey and they raised their glasses to me as a quick greeting. I looked back down at Tony and put my hand under his chin tilting his head up and kissed him hard.

"well, looks like someone's had too much to drink!"clint said, always ,always interrupting these little moments.

"He may be right" tony quipped pulling away "but I assure you it was definitely not me" he made a pouty face at Bruce who just shrugged back.

I finally looked at tony for the first time since we arrived at the party. He looked somewhat pale and very exhausted. The fine lines at his eyes crinkling more than ever. I was still holding him facing me and felt him sag into my arms listing completely into me like he had just lost all his energy. If I was not the one holding him I would have never noticed it.

"You okay?" I asked him quiet enough only for him to hear. But am sure both the super spy's heard as well because I noticed them turn their heads ever so slightly towards tony to see his response.

He just nodded his head seemingly not interested and spoke up "So I guess me and Steve are going to be taking this party to a whole new level now" everyone gave him a disgusted look while I blushed and followed him to the car. Well that was one way to say it's time to leave ,I guess.

"Did you have fun today?" I asked him as Happy pulled the car out of the parking lot.

"As much fun as these boring parties can get" he replied before yawning and snuggling into me. I put my arm around him and pulled him closer to me letting him rest his head on my shoulder. He was asleep before we reached the Highway.

Tony's POV

"-ny"

"hmm?"

"Tony, we are home, you can go back to sleep once we go upstairs and change into something some comfortable. Come on "

"okay"

I felt Steve nudging me more "you have to actually move tony. Come on, do you want me to carry you upstairs? " that woke me up.

"no, no I can walk " I woke up feeling groggy and tired . Maybe Steve carrying me is not such a bad idea.i got out of the car with Steve's hovering over me(wait, why were there two of him?). He said something to happy and turned towards me "one foot in front of the other, come on" he was practically supporting most of my weight already and I was so tired, I sagged further into his hold. He stopped in the common room dragging me into a more upright position and ran a hand through my hair waking me up again "Did you eat anything at the party?" he asked me suddenly doubtful.

"All he had were peanuts at the bar" Bruce, you traitor! I made a face in the general direction of his voice.

"Bruce, you are always getting me in trouble" I mumbled

"I'll go make him a sandwich" Bruce replied instead. I felt myself being lowered onto the couch. Someone was lightly slapping my face, well it had to be Steve, who else.

"Bruce I think something's not right" Steve sounded panicked. I whined as Steve shook my shoulders in order to wake me up.

"-et me seep" why wouldn't they just let me go back to sleep? The couch was so soft and comfortable and steve was warm. Then the warmth suddenly left, what the hell?

"steeeve" I whined moving to the left in hope of finding his warmth again. I felt more hands on me

One moving to my hair and brushing it back, I arched into it feeling heavenly. A couple more pulled me into a supine position on the couch. Finally!

"Tony, hey can you open your eyes? Look at me please. Can you tell me what's wrong?" No Bruce, I just want to sleep.

"wanna ssleep" I slurred.

"I know tony but before that can you just open your eyes for me? just for minute, I promise."

"Nat can you bring some water? And a thermometer ,he feels unusually warm" when did Nat get here?

"tony? babe, I need you tell me what's wrong" again with the slapping

"clint grab a cloth and run it with some cool water" clint too?huh. I was missing a lot of things.I pried my eyes open .Steve was sitting on his knees next the couch hand in my hair looking more worried than ever. Bruce was holding my wrist in his hand looking at his watch. I pulled my hand away and tried to get up. But I was immediately stopped with Steve's hand on my chest pushing me back down.

"Tony? Just lay still for a minute okay? What's going on with you?" Steve looked like he might burst into tears from worry. I pushed at their hands more firmly and sat up.

"Steve I have been up for the past 32 hours, so of course I am tired. Nothing is wrong. Bruce tell him I am fine" I told him quickly before he could say anything about me laying still. Clint and Nat chose that moment to come back into my line of vision holding various things.

"Hey tony? Are you okay?" Clint asked .I sighed just waving him off tired of explaining.

Bruce took what looked like a thermometer from Nat's hand as Steve sat next to me and she handed me a glass of water. I didn't take it immediately so she held it up to my lips while Steve tipped my head towards the glass to drink it. Well guess I am drinking the water then.

But I actually felt more awake and alert after drinking the water. I zoned out again for a second and hands unbuttoning my suit bought me back to reality.

"Hey! Stop that!" I tried to smack the hands away but Nat glared at me and I had to keep still. She gracefully slid of my blazer and undid the top few buttons of my shirt and she dropped to her knees in front of me one hand cupping the back of my neck effectively holding me still and looking directly at me she asked-

"What's going on with you?" Nothing! Geez..

"Nothing is going on just like I told ste-" I turned to my left to where Steve was just sitting to find him gone .I looked up puzzled. "Where did Steve go?" I asked confused. Now everyone was staring at me like I was the crazy one. Nat reached over to grab the wet cloth from Clint and wiped my face and neck with it. And damn did that feel good!

"Where's Steve?" I asked again.

"He went to bring you a change of clothes from your room." Okay, but why couldn't he just go up to his room and change there? And then sleep on his own bed?

"Because Bruce thinks you might be sick and we are taking you to shield medical" oh. On that note, where did Bruce go?

Wait, hold your horses. medical? NO.

"I don't need to go to medical! I am fine, see?" "I am just tired, and I was drinking at the party, I just need to sleep it off!" I pushed off the couch feeling dizzy almost instantly but I pushed the feeling away as I walked past Nat and Clint into the elevator.

"J, take me to my room"

The elevator opened "sir, your floor" Jarvis said as if he too thought there was something wrong with me. "I am aware, Jarvis" I spit out walking into my room to find steve and bruce standing in the middle of the room ,steve holding my black sabbath shirt in his hand, and discussing something with the utmost sincerity. They both turned around immediately as I entered the room, steve, immediately walking towards me and reached for me. I pushed his hands away and walked towards the bed still in my party dress shirt and pants and quickly snuck under the covers.

"I am going to sleep" I told them both and shut my eyes.

"ton-"

Steve's POV

"ton-" I started to say in argument but Nat interrupted me walking into the room with clint

"He's pissed" she said "we may have let slip that we were taking him to medical" I groaned internally. tony hated hated doctors. It usually took a team effort to get him looked at by a medical professional after a particularly gruesome battle.

"Although he does seem more coherent now" Clint said. "He's probably just tired like he said"

"Could be, But he's never this tired. And he's been seemingly tired the whole week. And not to mention today at the party he wasn't exactly himself either." Bruce explained. All of us nodded in agreement looking at tony who was trying very hard to ignore all of us.

His head peaked out from under the covers "steve can we sleep now? just you and me? In our room?"

I sighed and looked at the others shaking their head in amusement. He had just scared us all half to death a moment ago from his lack of cognition and now here he is making sarcastic remarks.

"He seems okay to me " clint declared walking out

Bruce muttered his goodnights and left

"I am still worried" Nat whispered so tony wouldn't hear "Have Jarvis call me if you need me" she said kissing my cheek before walking out.

"I will, thank you, Nat"

I quickly changed into my nightwear and snuck into bed pulling tony close and turning him to face me just so I could have good look at him. He curled into me sighing in contentment. Maybe he was just tired. That didn't make any of us any less worried though. I ran my hands through his hair, too wound up to fall sleep but still exhausted all the same.

"tony?" I asked him as quietly as possible

"mm-?"

"you would tell me if something was wrong won't you?"

I didn't receive any response to that. Only his quiet breathing as he snuggled closer into me tucking his head below my chin.


	4. Chapter 4

Steve's POV

I woke up to tossing and turning. Tony has been doing this a lot the past week. I untangled the mess of blankets he had managed to get wrapped up in and pulled him into me smoothing his hair. After a few seconds he calmed down. I turned to look at the clock on the nightstand ,it read 6 30 am. It was almost time for my morning jog. But today I felt somewhat unsettled to leave Tony; he seemed so out of it yesterday night. Deciding to skip the jog just for today I settled back in holding him close to me, never wanting to let go.

Looking down at his face, I saw the paleness still persisting from yesterday night. I kissed his forehead as gently as possible trying to get a read on the temperature of his skin. In tony's anger we didn't have a chance to take his temperature with the thermometer. I frowned at the heat emanating from his.

"Jarvis?"

"how may I be of assistance, captain?"Jarvis replied quietly so as to not wake his creator.

"do you have sensors to check tony's temp?"

"of course captain. Sir's temp is currently 99.8 degrees Fahrenheit"

That wasn't too high right? I snuggled closer to him and let myself fall back asleep vowing to get him some Tylenol from the fever once he was awake.

Tony's POV

I came awake to hearing some murmuring and one hand on my torso and another smaller one brushing through my hair.

Steve was sitting upright on the bed indian style next to me with one hand across my stomach and another holding a mug with coffee. It was still steaming. I could kill for some coffee right now!

On my right was Tasha with her hand running through my hair. And Bruce was sitting on a chair next to my bed. All three in a somewhat serious discussion they didn't notice me awake. So I kept still trying to hear what they were saying.

"we should do a blood test. Maybe he is anemic?"

"it explains the fatigue, and the fainting"

"Ill call pepper and let her know about what's going on. I am sure she will agree that he should not come in for a few days"

I woke fully alert at that letting them know I was awake " No one is calling pepper!"

"Tony!" Steve put his mug down on the nightstand and rubbed my belly. "how are you feeling?"

"Why is there a super spy on my bed?"I asked though I snuggled into her hand a little more because that felt good.

"Morning" she said "tony, we have some things we want to discuss with you"

"Nobody is sticking me with any needles! And no one is calling pepper! What is wrong with you all I told you I am fine."I told them as firmly as possible.

"Steve said you haven't been sleeping well this whole week. You have hardly spent any time with the team at all. Bruce says you are hardly getting any work done when you are down at the lab. Jarvis told me you have been drinking more coffee than normal just to keep focused. Not to mention yesterday night and of course, let's not forget you fainted! Out of the blue. That's not normal for you tony."Nat said all in one breath it almost made me dizzy trying to process what she had spoken.

"That's not fair! Everyone gets to be a little tired at some point. It doesn't mean something is wrong"I argued .Why was my morning already going like this?

"Okay tony, just let us do one blood test, and then we will leave you be." Bruce said and edged closer to the nightstand as if to pick up something.

That's when I noticed it, took in my surroundings properly. There were two syringe barrels, a stethoscope, a thermometer and oh my god! Needles!

I jerked out from under the covers. Steve startled and moved to stabilize the mug he had picked up again .But Natasha was quicker and calmer she put her hand around my neck pulling me back into her embrace. " you are okay Tony" she said softly.

Steve laid down on my left side and Nat let go of me. But Steve quickly but calmly put one hand one my forehead pushing my head back into the pillows and kissed me. I forgot what was happening for a moment until I felt his other hand grabbing both my wrists and effectively pinned me down onto the bed. "I am sorry tony, But please honey, we just want to make sure you are okay"

Steve's POV

I knew Tony was going to hate me for what I was about to do but it was for his own good. I placed the mug back on the night stand and laid down on my side beside him moved my hand to his forehead pushing him back into the pillows and kissed him with passion. once I felt him succumb to the kiss I moved my other hand and pulled both his wrists together and pinned him down.

"I am sorry tony, But please honey, we just want to make sure you are okay"

"-mm! Steve please stop! Let me go!" I could feel him trying to push me away but the serum strength didn't even make me budge. I knew he hated it when I used my strength against him. But I was worried

And more than that I was afraid tony was going to seriously compromise on taking care of himself one of these days.

Bruce was quick to move closer, tony arched his back up away from the bed, "Nat, hold his shoulder down. I'll be really quick Tony, I promise. I am sorry"

Tony struggled even more at that, he is going to be so angry at us after this. But it's okay, he will be okay.

Tony's eyes were tracking Bruce like a hawk. "Tony hey look at me, baby. It's just a needle. It will only take a minute. Come on, here; look at me" I told him forcefully turning his head to face me.

His eyes widened as the needle pierced his skin and he whimpered but relaxed after that .The worst part was over.

I Kissed him again "you did great babe" I told him. He whimpered and sagged in defeat as Bruce pulled the needle out and exclaimed "all done!"

We let go of him, but I let my hand on his head stay carding through his hair. He pulled away from me instantly. The look on his was of pure betrayal. The exhaustion was now clear on his face, he looked pale and about ready to pass out.

"Tony?" He started to sway and I immediately moved to grab him. He jerked away from me so fast, colliding into Nat who tried not to grab as she knew he was feeling betrayed and didn't trust anyone right now. But he was becoming more pale by the second and someone had to do something so I moved forward again very slowly bringing my hand up to caress his cheek .He let me this time still looking at me with the look of betrayal.

"I am really sorry Tony, You know why I did it" He nodded his head and relaxed into my touch.

"Do you want to go back to sleep? Come on ill lay down with you." I guided him back forward. Nat moved her hands to undo his sweat soaked shirt. Once the shirt was off , I Pulled him with me to lay down. Nat brushed a kiss on tony's head and they left the room silently.

This was going to be hard to tackle. What if tony was really sick? I moved my hands to his arc reactor just to reassure myself that he is okay.


	5. Chapter 5

Steve's POV

This week's mission for the team had come down to one thing- to make sure tony took his daily shots of iron, and to make sure he was eating and sleeping right. The blood test had come back positive for iron deficiency anemia. Bruce had explained that his hemoglobin was on borderline to severe. Tony was still fatigued but he was definitely doing better after Bruce gave him some oral iron supplements. He was yet to forgive us for the blood draw. Tony was a tricky patient, but together they managed. The genius brain of his had only one thing missing, he didn't know how to take care of himself. Bruce had initially suggested that tony take a few days off from his work. But everyone knew tony had the most work amongst the team .Between balancing his company and working with fury, developing weapons for the team he had little to no time for himself.

The whole team was sat down in the common room, only tony was missing .I had promised not to hover if he ate his entire breakfast this morning. That was the only push he needed to polish his plate clean. He had finished eating with little fuss and had gone down to his lab immediately after and was yet to emerge. Bruce had made sure to eat lunch with him today in the lab.

We decided to have a movie night, since clint had shield business for the next few days and Natasha and Myself had to go to shield, The training program was a success so Fury wanted to make it a weekly affair. Except this time they had to go to a different shield base. They were going to be gone for two days.

That left Bruce and thor in charge of Tony. Pepper had made sure to take care of SI business this week to give Tony a break. But Tony was not having any of it. He wanted a constant report of everything that was happening.

"Where is the man of iron? Or must I say the man lacking iron?" Thor has been spending too much time with Darcy. Clint snickered at that.

"Steve, go drag him up here, I want to eat the popcorn!" Clint whined. I nodded getting up to go find my genius. I hadn't seen him the whole day.

"Jarvis? How is Tony's mood right now?"

"Sir is seemingly excited, currently working on your shield's paint job. You may have to pry him away from it, I suggest some bribe with bacon" Jarvis always knew how to manipulate Tony into doing things that's good for him. Once when Tony had worked continuously for 72 hours with no sleep, Jarvis had purposefully shut down claiming malware and Tony had finally emerged from his lab with lack of anything to do since his AI was not working. He would have noticed Jarvis bluffing if he hadn't been so tired.

I entered the lab after punching in the authorization code. I found Tony sipping coffee in one hand and gracefully moving his other hand around controlling the screens in front of him.

I walked up behind him as silently as possible trying not to knock anything over and wrapped my arms around his torso trailing kisses up his neck and nibbled his ear. I felt him stiffen at initial contact, it made my guilt flare up from last morning but I told myself that it was for Tony. He dropped the bracelet remote thing he uses to control things and turned in my arms slowly reaching up, his hand grabbing my hair, I felt him lift up on his tip toes and pulling me lower and then smashed his lips into mine. I could still feel the tension and stiffness in his movements but this was progress for sure. I tightened my arms around his torso lifting him up of the floor his legs wrapping around my waist. I pulled back breaking the kiss and placing him on the nearby table trailing kisses along his forehead ear and neck. His breath was coming in pants and I waited till it evened out.

"I am leaving tomorrow for the training camp, I'll be back in two days" I said into his ear. I felt his hold on me tighten but he nodded his head. Lifting his head he pouted "Oh no! Whatever am I to do without my boyfriend?" He said in his most dramatic mannerism. Two can play at this game! I trailed my hands up under his shirt slowly and felt the shiver that ran down his spine and I removed them just as quickly.

Tony whined at the loss of skin to skin contact "we are going to have to wait and find out" I answered him letting go and backing up from the table.

"steeeeeve" he whined reaching out to grab for me but I was already out of reach. I turned my back to him and started walking towards the stairs and I told him without turning back "its movie night, if you want to claim any popcorn you better be quick"

I heard him fake gasp and hop off the table. I smiled to myself as I heard his footsteps in my pursuit.

Tony's POV

"Clint ,it's my tower. Therefore the bigger share of popcorn is mine!" I huffed as I dropped down between steve and Bruce.

I knew what was going to happen once the movie was over, I even knew the movie was only a distraction from the shot of iron that was apparently inevitable. Bruce had made that clear to me.

But that didn't mean I was ready for it. It's not fair that I am anemic. He was Iron man for god'sake! Nat had given me the "I will not hesitate to prick you with no foreseen warning!" I knew she was capable after she had once given him a shot when he had palladium poisoning.

So I was steering clear of Natasha for the foreseeable future. Which Is why I chose to sit next to Steve and Bruce. Bruce was a good man, always trying to get people to be comfortable around him.

Lifting my legs up on the couch I confiscated most of Steves blanket and he pulled my into his embrace. "So what are we watching?" I asked them hoping it was some kind of romance drama. I loved watching Steve Blush through the sexy scenes.

"The Lion king" Thor explained much too excitedly. I sighed, It must have been his turn to pick the movie. Thor was a sucker for animal movies with happy endings.

Halfway through, as simba was reuniting with Nala, Clint got up and expressed his need to use the facilities, and demanded the movie be paused. Thor gave an irritated sigh and paused the movie.

I was so comfy settled in between Steve and Bruce, so when I felt Bruce lift up from the couch I whined and snuggled closer to Steve my eyes starting to drift close. I heard Bruce muttering something to Natasha and walking out of the room. Steve ran a hand across my cheek and slapped me lightly "Tony I need you to wake up" He said gently lifting me into a more upright position my back resting against steve's chest comfortably.

He pulled the blanket down from around my shoulder letting it drop in my lap. I sighed knowing what was coming. I hated this. I was a genius for god's sake! A genius with a needle phobia! It brought too many memories of Afghanistan. I had hated anything to do with a hospital after the traumatic event of people cutting into my chest while i was wide awake.

Nat shifted from her spot on the adjacent couch to crouch down onto her knees beside me.

"Tony, I know you know what's happening" she said .I nodded my head in defeat the panic already evident on my face. Steve rubbed his hands up and down my shoulder and arms in comfort.

I could hear Bruce walking back into the room and my breaths turned into short gasps. Steve pressed his lips to the side of my head "You are okay tony, This will only take a minute and then we can go back to watching the movie." He whispered. "deep breathes, honey" he kept muttering comforting things as I pushed back into Steve's chest as much as possible trying to hide from the needle Bruce was now carrying towards me.

He gave me an apologetic look before nodding to Natasha, she pushed the sleeve on my shirt up to reveal my bicep and Steve's hand rubbing up down stilled holding my arm tight. I squeezed my eyes shut and voila! Next thing I knew Steve was saying "good job Tony!" "It's over" and Bruce had already discarded the offending object from my sight and was settling back into the couch next to me giving me a warm smile.

It was over? That's good right? Then why am I not able to catch my breath? Panic over took me and before I knew it Steve had pulled me into his lap and Nat was holding water to his lips.

"Tony! hey, focus on me! You are okay. Come on, drink this" My breath eventually evened out and and fatigue took over. I listed backward into Steve as he held me up while Natasha held the glass up once again. I drank the water feeling my heart rate start to slow. Nothing more was said. I settled back into Steve's arms and the movie was resumed and everyone's focus went back to Simba and Nala singing.

My eyes started to drift close before the song was over.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony's POV

Waking up to an empty bed sucks. It has been only 4 hours since Steve woke me up to kiss me goodbye with a promise of me giving him a daily update. We are generally not a clingy couple ,always allowing each other the required space when one needed it, but ever since I was diagnosed anemic (which also sucks) Steve has been giving attention to me with full force, daily cuddling and all. He gets edgy when I don't respond back with the same amount of attention. But it's always his fault really, he only ever asks me these things when I am in the middle of a breakthrough in the lab.

"Good morning sir, Captain rogers has asked me to remind you of your morning iron pills, If you turn to your left you will find them on the nightstand." Oh joy!

"thanks, J" I pushed off the covers stumbling to the shower, today is going to be all work no fun. But that's a good thing, since all he has done the past few days is laid around trying to 'rest' under the watchful eyes of the team.

Halfway through the shower, the almost empty tower echoed with the loud siren for the avengers to assemble. Wonderful! The enemy always the worst of timings. Last time the giant green blob monster had so rudely interrupted the best game of fireball ever played. I quickly dried of calling of the mark % as I exited the shower.

Thor and Bruce were already in the common room, Bruce had a look of utter dismay.

" I feel you bruce" I said as I headed in the direction of the quinjet on the launch pad.

"tony, we need to wait till Fury gives briefs us about the situation" Bruce said. Well yeah, but isn't it more fun if it's a surprise?

"fury can brief us on the way" Thor nodded already excited of the battle and jumped onto the quinjet.

Bruce sighed knowing it was a lost cause, he jogged over to the quinjet, Thor pulling him up.

It was truly a spectacular sight! An entire block was covered in what looked like some sort of radium glow. Anything the creature (with long sqiggly legs and arms as lanky as a man with no bones) brushed against seemed to absorb some sort of energy while radiating a blue and pink light.

It took seven hours of continuous battle with the sqiggles, yes that's we decided to call them ,to finally figure out that the radiating material was the key to kill the seemingly endless energy these things had. It was absorbing energy and releasing the energy in a continuous cycle, the radiation destroying what it came in contact with. Including my suit of armor. It burned away most of the left side of my armor including the face plate. Leaving by an ugly red burn in it's wake. But there was no time to stop and dwell on it , the squiggles were now approaching the community center where all the civilians had gathered for safety.

Thor and the hulk had taken out majority of the squiggles, temporarily giving me some time to reroute the energy transmitted into my arc reactor. The plan was to let the energy be absorbed by the reactor, and once the squiggles don't get their energy back, they are going to have to go back to where they came from through the portal, which Thor would channel his asgardian powers to close.

It worked flawlessly, expect that I didn't take into account what the reactor would do to me when it had reached a point beyond it energy capacity. So when I fell on to my knees from the jerky electric shocks going through me , an almost naked bruce ran up to me

"tony we need take the reactor out, its more energy than your heart can handle!" Duh.

" friend tony, do you have a spare reactor on you right now?" I nodded my head no, unable to speak since I was gritting my teeth so hard from the pain that's was shuddering through me in waves.

"thor we need to get him back to the tower, can you carry him to the jet?"

The last thing I remember was being lowered onto the seat in the quinjet and Bruce buckling me in.

Steve's POV

It had been an eventful two days. It was refreshing to be able to teach a fresh set of minds a few basic battle skills. Nat had especially loved the way she could boss around everyone with just her glare (even I could not handle the glare)

But it had been two days away from home , away from tony. I knew there was some sort of battle the remaining avengers were called in for. Which meant tony was busy fighting bad guys with bruce and thor, which meant I couldn't get in touch with him until the battle was over and the debriefing was done.

Tony' POV

I woke up to the smell of singed metal. Wrinkling my nose I opened my eyes to find the source. Would you look at that! My entire left side of the Armour was black instead of its usual glimmering red. Someone was saying something to me, I should probably respond to them.

"Tony! Are you okay? Did the radiation affect you underneath the armor?" what? Oh yes, squiggles!

I groaned trying to get up "I am fine, the energy overload must have shorted out the reactor. I need to get to the tower, the spare one is in my lab." I said looking down at the reactor which seemed to be flickering consistently, I could feel the jittery movement of my heart from the abnormal impulse it was receiving from the reactor. Steve was going to be so mad, but only if someone told him right?

Bruce let me sit up, checking my pupils and asking more questions about the reactor. I knew the fastest way out of this was to deal with it. So I answered as much as possible patiently while the quinjet took us back to the tower. Once the quinjet docked, thor hopped off and turned back to give me a hand. Before taking it I turned to Bruce

"let's not tell Steve about this little incident okay? He has been enough worried lately. I don't want to trouble him on my account"

"but tony" Bruce started but I cut him off. pointing to the reactor and hopping off the jet to get to my lab as quickly as possible.

Bruce and thor followed me down, and thor watched with concern as I took the reactor out and pointed to a box designed to house the reactor which Jarvis had already unlocked for Bruce to pick it up and hand it over to me. He jogged over to the reactor picked up and we switched the ones in our hands. I clicked the new one into place feeling the jolt of the reactor, and thor steadily held on to my arm to stabilize me.

I looked up, to Bruce examining the blinking reactor in hand.

"we can probably Transfer the excess energy onto a different receiver" he nodded looking at me intently.

"what?"I said suddenly self conscious.

"take off your suit Tony" oh yes, the suit, this was going to be painful. I walked over to the station as jarvis said "sir you may want take a mild analgesic first" Bruce turned to me alarmed.

"it's fine j, do your thing!" I nodded and as the mechanical arms grabbed at my gauntlets. Bruce and thor was still looking at me concerned "man of iron, do you need the medical facilities?"

"I am fine guys, probably just a little heat rash from the suit getting singed. Why don't you both head over to shield for the debrief? I am sure fury is already fuming waiting on us." Thor nodded and walked out. Bruce remained rooted in place.

"I'll leave once the armor is off." He said with no place for arguments. I sighed as I nodded up again at jarvis to continue removing the armor. All pieces came off on the right side with ease but the left one's were painful. Should have listened to jarvis and taken the analgesic. But since Bruce was here for the show, I hid the pain as well as I could and winked at him once the chest plate was out.

"All done!" I said stepping off the the station.

Bruce gasped as I neared him " Tony! Your arm!" looking down I saw the red blistering mess on my arm, and felt the same burn along my torso. I let him examine my arm, but stopped him as he moved to lift up the undershirt.

"I just need some ice, come on! thor is probably already half way there by now" I said brushing his hands off walking towards the exit.

"Tony"

"it's nothing, I swear Bruce. I am fine"

He sighed shaking his head following me out the door.

Steve's POV

Just two days away, but was I glad to be home! Entering the tower, the first thing I wanted was to go see Tony. I really did not want to leave him since the anemia situation. But sometimes somethings couldn't be avoided. I hadn't even spoken to him yet after the battle, Bruce had called a while ago saying they were at the debriefing. I sighed unhappily, knowing that was going to take a while.

"you want to head up to shield?" nat asked reading my mind. I nodded my head no because I knew if we went there would only be more questions and that would mean it will take longer.

"Bruce said he was fine Steve, just a little banged up" she said patting my arm and walking towards the elevator. Yeah he did say that.. Might as well get some rest before they come back then. Most of the team was back now except Clint, who was expected to return tomorrow. So they could finally have some team time.

Nat and I decided to get refreshed and watch a movie while waiting for Tony Bruce and thor to return. Thor was probably to go back to jane's though. She always insisted that he see her as soon as the debrief. I understood that, just the same way I needed to see Tony now and make sure he is alright. I walked up to our room, upon entering there were two things I spotted immediately – 1)the bed was unkempt, which meant the call for the team had happened when Tony had just woken up or still sleeping. And 2)the iron pills I had left for Tony on the nightstand still remained in the exact same place I left it. Which meant he has not had any form of iron supplements in the past two days.

"Jarvis? Has Tony taken any of his pills these two days?"

"no captain, he was called in for the battle as soon as he woke up"

"how is he doing right now? Anything you can tell me about the battle?"

I listened carefully as Jarvis briefed the entire battle to me in perfect sequence. I gasped at hearing that tony's suit had been burnt, that had to be some really strong radiation to be able to affect his suit.

"was anyone on the team hurt? Anyone needing medical?" as captain I was always worried about the team. The post battle round up was always the worst.

"No captain, Dr. Banner and Thor escaped relatively unscathed."

That meant tony was hurt in some way or another and had instructed Jarvis not to tell me about it. I sighed in frustration and looked up at the ceiling.

"he is alright, captain. Exhausted, and in need of rest, his iron levels need to be tested again. But he will otherwise be okay." I beamed up at the ceiling "thank you Jarvis"

"anything for our sir,captain"

The movie was okay, some thing about a guy stranded on some unknown place with lots of violence. Neither Natasha nor me were too interested but we were pretty comfortably settled on the couch in the common room. One hour into the movie, and we could hear the bickering Bruce and Tony walking into the Hallway of the common room.

"okay, but how does it matter if it's stored in the same form?"

"Bruce you know it's unstable, you saw what it did to my reactor" Tony said as they both walked into the room.

"what happened to your reactor?" I asked already panicking. I saw Natasha sit up straighter as well.

"Steve! Natasha! Welcome back" Tony said surprised to see us, he walked towards me and plopped down in between me and Nat.

"hey guys, when did you get here?" Bruce asked claiming the adjacent single seater.

"a couple of hours back, figured you guys would be busy with the Debrief"

"Jarvis briefed us on the battle, is everyone okay?any one of you hurt? "I asked as I rearranged myself to accommodate Tony into my hold.

Bruce shrugged "we are all mostly fine, just a few bruises here and there" he said looking at Tony, which was Bruce's way of telling me I should currently be paying more attention to the man now snuggled into my arms.

I looked down at him, he was dutifully ignoring this conversation , which made me even more nervous.

"so, what happened to your reactor?" I asked him unable to hold in my concern any longer.

"huh? Nothing, just got a little overloaded with energy from the squiggles, but I switched it out, so now it's perfectly fine" he said nonchalantly before abruptly kissing me.

"did you miss me? Cause I didn't miss you at all" he said smirking. But I couldn't really pay attention to what he was saying, all I wanted to do was make sure he was alright.

"did you both have dinner?"I asked them instead. Bruce nodded "post battle food is always necessary, shield had a very good spread today"he said sighing contentedly.

"except, for the pasta, that was disgusting" Tony made a face.

"Okay I think we should call it a day then, assuming everyone is tired that is"I looked pointedly at Tony, he opened his mouth to argue but I cut him off "come on babe, let's head upstairs and you can tell me all about the disgusting pasta"I said pulling him up with me.

As soon as we entered our room, the first thing I did was pull Tony back into my embrace, kissing him long and hard. He was gasping for breath within seconds.I took the opportunity to quickly slide his shirt over his head and look at the reactor. It seemed okay. It looked just like the previous one, burning bright with the same intensity. And then I noticed it, his entire left side all the way down disappearing into the hem of his pants was a deep red burn, I traced my finger tips over it and he hissed in pain.

"Tony…did you get this looked at?"

"No, but I am going to put ice on it as soon as am done with you" he said as he tugged me back towards the bed. I pushed him gently onto it and his hands locking into my hair my hands working the buttons on his pants.

Tony's POV

Waking up post battle was never pretty, all the soreness and pain always catches up with you. Steve's arm felt heavy around my torso, and it was making my burns ache. As gently as possible I moved to push his hands away, but he just held on tighter.

"steve" I said moving my hand to push his hair out of his face. It was getting longer. But I liked it this way, so I am not going to complain.

"hmm? Tony what's wrong are you okay?" he said half awake, "yes, but I need you to let me go so I can get up"

He whined but let me go snuggling into the pillows. Why was Steve still asleep? It's rare that I am ever awake before he is.

Jarvis, as if reading my thoughts said quietly "it's half past 3 pm sir. You have slept for over 14 hours. Captain Rogers went for his morning jog 4 hours ago and joined you in bed again about one hour ago"

Well that explains it. "why is Steve back in bed sleeping?" I asked Jarvis because I knew Steve hated sleeping away the day light.

"my heart rate sensors recorded during the night tells me captain Roger's did not actually sleep at night, but was just lying in bed with you sir." I groaned knowing exactly why he did not sleep. He would have stayed up all night worrying about the arc reactor failure.

Heading over to the shower, I brushed my teeth and took a quick shower, giving Steve a little more time to sleep before I woke him up. The shower burned my skin, probably because I forgot to ice it yesterday. The dizziness was coming back full force, I picked up some of the expensive lotion in the cabinet behind the mirror which I didn't even know existed and lathered it up on the burnt skin. Sighing with contentment from the coolness it provided I wrapped the towel around my waist stepping out the shower.

But before I stepped out of the shower Steve was already gone from the bed, the sheets neatly folded In its place. Okay he was definitely angry with me about something if he just left without saying something. Did I say something wrong yesterday night? What did I do? I was so tired last night I hardly registered anything other than the joy of sleeping cuddled with Steve ,Amongst other things. I smiled to myself as I headed downstairs thinking about last night.

I walked into the kitchen, Bruce and Steve were sitting at the table opposite each other, talking. Natasha was talking on her phone and toasting bread simultaneously. I sauntered over and sat down on the chair adjacent to Steve. Bruce had a plate full of food eating, I was right on time for lunch. They all looked up at me, steve smiled at me sweetly.

"Hey there, looks like someone finally decided to wake up"

"it's not my fault, the bed was extra warm yesterday" I said running my hand up and down Steve's thigh under the table. He blushed a bright red, pecked me on the lips and got up from his chair.

"you missed breakfast, Bruce made curry for lunch, do you want a plate?" he asked me, but was already putting some on a plate. Oh well, I was famished. He put the plate in front of me and sat down next to me again.

"how are you feeling Tony? Steve said you were exhausted last night" my turn to blush. Bruce was still looking at me intently waiting for a reply.

Natasha finally put her phone down, walking past me and sat down on my other side placing a glass of orange juice in front of me.

"I am good, sore, but who isn't?" I said taking a sip from the glass. Steve hmm'd and got up and left the room, God knows to where. I turned to watch him leave while Bruce put his empty plate in the dishwasher. "How are the burns? Did you ice them?"

"I put lotion on them, feels good" Bruce gave me a disapproving look shaking his head.

"Tony, how's the reactor? Have you figured out how to contain the energy?" Nat asked chewing on her toast. "not yet, will work on it as soon as I am done fixing the armor" she nodded her head putting down the toast and turning towards me she asked "so, how are you really doing Tony? Steve said you have not taken your iron supplements since we left three days ago. Combined with the post battle fatigue, you have to be tired" Ah, there it was, the pills! I had completely forgotten about them. Steve probably saw them still on the night stand where he left them for me before leaving. That's why he was angry.

"I forgot about them because of the invasion, not on purpose!" I snipped, slightly annoyed that Steve thought I would have had the time for this between everything that was happening.

"I Am not accusing you, just enquiring, no need to get snippy" she said but had no accusatory tone, just calm and explaining. Fine, whatever, I forgot.

Just as I finished my curry, Steve entered again, and dropped two pills in my hands in exchange for the plate. He didn't say anything about it or about me forgetting it. Just handed it to me casually and walked away with my plate to put in the dishwasher. I put them in my mouth, and washed it down with rest of my orange juice.

"Clint and thor will be back tonight, so movie night and dinner?" Steve asked standing with his arms crossed leaning against the wall, Bruce and Nat nodded in agreement.

"only if I get to pick the movie" I said, as I debated the risk of pouring myself some coffee in front of an angry Steve. maybe I can ask dummy to get some down at the lab.

"you can choose whatever you want, as long as it's not a chick flick." Natasha said as she washed her hands.

"You kill all the fun romanoff"I muttered as she and Bruce left. I wanted until they were gone to look at Steve. He was still leaning against the wall but avoiding looking at me. I stood up leaning against the table, "so…. You are mad at me." I said trying to sound as innocent as possible. Maybe he will forgive me quickly. Steve rarely gets mad, well he gets mad a lot when I dont listen to what he says during a battle. But when it comes to getting mad with me outside of the battlefield, he's not even actually mad. He's always so nice about it. That makes it even harder for me.

"let's talk about this later okay? I promised to go help out the clean up crew" he said nodding, for me to come to him. We met halfway , he kissed my head before walking off. Okay so he was really mad then.

Steve's POV

I was so hungry by the time I reached the tower, the traffic had been grueling. The cleaning process for the day had been exhausting in every which way. It was estimated to be wound up by tomorrow evening. Which Meant working without a break for hours together. Tony had sent out his entire stark clean up crew. But looking at the scene, even that didn't seem enough.

It didn't help that I was in a crappy mood all day, I was frustrated because I didn't know how to handle the situation with Tony. He has zero self worth and that was the problem. His burns from the battle are extensive, they needed attention. And Jarvis had said to check his blood counts again which only worried me even more. I don't even know if I am mad at Tony or at myself for not being there when it happened. But I know I am currently exhausted from being mad. Tony needs me right now and here I was sulking all day. Deciding to go make it up to him, I headed down to the lab knowing that Tony had intended to work on his armour all day. I stopped at the glass walls, watching Tony from behind wearing the boots of his Armour. He was moving rigidly like he was too sore to be moving at all. He stopped abruptly looking up and directly at me, smiled and waving for me to come in, immediately masking the pain. Jarvis must have told him I was waiting at the door.

I walked in after punching the code into the lock pad. Tony motioned for me to sit on the Chair in front of the desk.

"Have a look at what I did!" he exclaimed as he backed up a bit. He motioned for Jarvis to start the jet on the boots to lift him up. And the normal orange bright colour of the jet was now burning bright blue.

"I managed to make the jets completely oxygen dependent"

I didn't know what it meant, but Tony seemed excited so I smiled anyways trying to appreciate whatever he had managed to accomplish. "j, let her down easy" he instructed. The boots came off, after he stuck the landing gracefully. Wiping the grease off his hands, he sauntered over to me. I opened my arms, and he sat down on my lap, locking his hands around my neck. He looked so pale and exhausted. I wrapped my arms around him pulling him close tucking his head by my shoulder and kissed his head.

"Steve"

"yes Tony?"

"I am sorry" he said softly. I melted at that, sighing knowing that my grouchy mood had ruined his day as well.

I pulled away slightly putting a hand at the base of his neck and lifted his head to kiss him, trying to kiss away all the frustration. He pulled away, waiting for me to look at him, once I did he said "what can I do to make it up to you? You name it, and I'll do it." He said raising an eyebrow his hands moving up my shirt suggestively. I moved my hands to still his hands roaming my chest "I need you to let Bruce check your burns, and do a blood test" I stated taking advantage of his offer. He physically deflated at that. I felt him sag in my hold "okay" he said softly.

Taking a deep breath, He pushed up from my lap, standing hands on his hips, "now?" he asked so quietly it broke my heart.

"please" he nodded yes.

"okay let's go then, it's my turn to pick the movie! So let's make this fast!" he said trying to sound chirpy, but I could hear the tremble in his voice.

I walked him to the elevator, letting the door close.

"so where is Bruce?" he asked avoiding looking at me, the guilt was ripping me apart now. I didn't like when Tony went from being his normal cocky confident man I love to this nervous quiet Tony.

"Tony.." I waited patiently for the five seconds it took for him to actually look up, I ran my hand through his messy hair, and let my thumb stroke his ear trying to calm him down.

"I love you, you know that right?" he nodded yes "I just don't want to see you get hurt or let you run yourself down" he nodded again "I know" he said closing his eyes leaning into me.

"Bruce and Natasha are waiting for us in the common room" I said to him and he visibly tensed when he realized that we had already discussed this behind his back. "Clint and thor will join us in an hour for dinner" I continued as the elevator opened and we stepped out.

"sounds good" he shrugged as he walked toward the couch waving at bruce and nat.

"Tony! Are you done with the Armour?"Bruce asked, Tony made a so and so gesture at him sitting down on the far end of the furthest chair from Bruce.

"Come sit here" Nat said gesturing to the couch space next to her. Tony made no effort to move.

"tony"

"geez! Okay I am going!" he said glaring at me all the while.

"okay, let's not prolong this more than we have to" Bruce said "can you take off the shirt so I can see the burn?"

I sat down next to Tony on the other side and Bruce settled on the edge of the coffee table in front of Tony.

"not in front of the lady" Tony pouted. I sighed this was going to take longer than they thought. "yes, because you are a shy kind of person" Natasha said already reaching for the hem of his shirt. She was all business, she knew there was no point beating around the bush. He swatted at her hand and removed the shirt himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Steve's POV

Bruce gasped at the red,raw skin that covered his entire left side. Nat gave a sigh of disapproval.

"It's honestly not as bad it looks" he whined squirming under Bruce's prodding fingers. Bruce nodded his head, "Some topical unaesthetic will probably help with the pain. Did you ice them at all?" Tony just pursed his lips and Bruce sighed. He eyed the raw skin that was disappearing into the hem of his pants.

"My pants are staying on!" Tony quipped, Bruce shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"He needs some antibiotic cream, Jarvis?" He said picking up a tube of some ointment and handed it to me motioning for me to smear it up on his burns.

"There is Soframycin in the bathroom on sir's floor" Jarvis replied. "I'll go get it, do we need to wrap it in gauze?" Nat asked getting up. "No I think it's better to leave it be for now" Bruce said distractedly while looking for something else in his medicine bag.

I uncapped the tube, squeezing out a generous amount onto my fingers, I smeared it across his skin, He shivered and winced "That's cold!" Tony muttered his eyebrows scrunching up.

"You can handle it" I told him using my other arm to guide him to turn more towards me. He gave me full on pout glaring.

"Stop being a baby, stark!" Clint snickered from the door. "If you are a good boy, maybe we will give you some ice cream afterwards" He said holding up a tub of honey walnut ice cream. The flavors everything came in today! I waited for Tony's remark, sure that it was going to be some kind of threat, But when he said nothing, I looked back at him, and saw his eyes locked onto something Bruce was holding, a syringe for the blood draw. Bruce had said his blood count was dangerously close to becoming a serious situation the last time. But we all had agreed to make sure he took his iron shots and oral pills on time. But as it turns out that wasn't the case. So there was a good chance it had gotten worse, especially if Jarvis had felt the need to mention it.

"Tony, come on baby, you have done this before" I said trying to quell his rising anxiety. He was unconsciously edging away from Bruce. I moved to grab him before he made a run for it. Putting my hand around his shoulders careful to avoid the sticky medicine on his torso, I moved closer to him.

"Tony, look at Steve buddy" Bruce said palming the syringe to hide it from Tony's vision but he was frozen in place, so I moved my hand cupping his cheek and turning him to face me.

Bruce was efficient as ever and had pulled Tony's hand onto his lap and uncapped the syringed in matter of seconds. I could feel tony begin to hyperventilate, "Breathe, Honey" I told him, he had gone rigid in my arms. I felt him wince as the needle pierced his skin; he made no sound just pushing his face into my chest. "You are okay, it's over" I repeated over and over again until I felt his breath even out.

"Are we even now?" He asked, his voice muffled from being pressed into my chest.

I kissed his head, "Thank you" I told him and felt him nod against me. Natasha had come back holding the antibiotic cream, she took Bruce's place on the table in front of tony as he left to test the blood. She applied a generous amount on his burnt skin and dipped her hand below the elastic waistband of his pant smearing the cream on his hips. Tony whined as he pulled away. She had also brought a blanket from our room, which she draped over our laps after pulling Tony's legs onto the couch.

Tony's POV

At least Steve was not angry with me anymore I thought to myself as Nat dropped the blanket over us. I squirmed under the blanket trying to get more comfortable, the antibiotic cream was icky and sticking to everything. A generous helping of ice cream was waved in front of me "This is for being a good boy" Clint said smirking ,I considered throwing the ice cream back at his face, but why waste it, so I just simply took it from him.

Thor arrived just in time the food was delivered. Impeccable timing that man had whenever there was food involved. Clint and Nat made the plates and brought them over to us placing them on the table.

"So what do you want to watch?" Steve asked me keeping their promise of letting me pick the movie tonight. I chose 27 dresses. Chick flicks were always fun. Now all we had to do was wait for Bruce to come back so we could start the movie and eat the food.

Mid argument between Thor and Natasha about why pop tarts were not ideal for dinner Bruce came up holding papers in his hands, looking sullen. He placed the papers on the arm chair out of my field of vision. He pursed his lips, looking at me, I didn't even want to hear what the test read.

Steve straightened up tightening his arms around me, "what's the verdict, Bruce?" Nat asked placing a jug of water onto the tale by the empty glasses.

"Okay, so your hemoglobin count has dropped, it was 8.1 the last time we tested it. This time it is 6.6. Tony that's….. not good." I shrugged, Steve sat up straighter now all his attention focused on Bruce "so what do you recommend?" He asked. I tried to tune them out, burying myself into the blanket Steve's hand automatically going to my hair.

"Uhm, I want to do more tests, the level at which his hemoglobin dropped in just a few days is not normal. It doesn't correlate with just iron deficiency anemia" Bruce said thoughtfully. "But his iron levels are also low. So we will continue the iron shots. The oral pills won't help at this moment."

"You think something else might be causing his blood counts to drop?" Nat asked her hand finding my foot under the blanket and wrapping around it. Bruce nodded his head looking intently at me.

"What can be the causes?" Steve asked

"The most common cause of acute anemia is trauma, and all I can think of is that he already has iron deficiency anemia, which reduced his blood count…and it reduced further after the battle"

I could feel all eyes on me, I glared back at them before reaching for my ice cream just so I have something to do. I felt Steve go rigid for a moment before he moved forward on the couch, lifting me up from his side where I was resting.

"Could the trauma be internal?" He asked urgently, taking the ice cream cup from my hands and placing it on the table.

"What the hell, Steve!" I grumbled my hands following his hands back to the cup. He caught my hands and pulled me completely upright on the couch.

"Yes, it's possible" Bruce said, moving forward to sit on the table in front of me. Steve captured both my hands in one of his, as he pulled my feet down dropping the blanket on the floor all in one swift motion that it made my head spin.

Before I had a chance to say anything, Steve's other hand was pulling the waistband of my pants on the left side down to reveal the large red bruise that was nicely blending in with the burn. "I noticed this last night" I tugged my hands out of his grasp letting my pants ride back up, "Steve!" I scolded "What the hell are you doing" I glared at him, he didn't seem to be even the slightest affected by it, he was too busy studying Bruce's expression .Who looked truly worried now.

Steve's POV

"Tony! I think you are bleeding internally. I need to see it again." Bruce said firmly, Tony sat rigidly unmoving.

"babe, come on, you could be seriously injured." I tried to reason with him.

Bruce got up motioning for Clint to go with him. " I need to get a few supplies, we will be right back" he said, both of them leaving.

"Tony, look at me" Nat said moving to sit next to Tony on his left. She waited until he looked up. "if you are injured, you need to tell us, we only want to help you. Do you really believe we are going to hurt you?" he nodded his head no leaning backwards his head hitting my chest. I wrapped my hands around him, and moved one hand to his pants, testing to see if he would protest. He didn't, so I pulled his pant down, Natasha tugging it off completely, leaving him only in his boxers. He shivered at the loss of warmth, I pulled the blanket up around his shoulders. Turning him so that he was lying down with his head on my lap.

"I hate this" he whined, "I feel fine, I really don't want to do this Steve"

"I know you, Tony. You must be in a lot of pain. We are going to do whatever it is that needs to be done, and then we are all going to watch your movie okay? It will be over before you know it. I promise" I told him running my hand up and down the nape of his neck.

I looked up as Bruce and Clint came back carrying a few things. They set them down on the table as Bruce resumed his position in front of Tony on the edge of the table holding a blood pressure apparatus. He indicated to me to lift Tony up into a sitting position.

"okay, so here's what's going to happen. I am going to check your blood pressure, if it is anything below 90/60 then this discussion is over and we are going to medical. If it's above that then we are going to manage this situation here. Either ways you need a blood transfusion and that is not up for debate. Okay?" if Tony was pale then, you should see him now, he turned white as a sheet, I was afraid he was going to pass out.

"Tony, I know this is hard for you but it has to be done okay?" Clint said for once not being playful.

He nodded yes, lifting his arm for Bruce to take. He looked up at me, the panic in his eyes was disheartening but at least he was not resisting. The last time they had to give him a blood transfusion due to blood Loss post battle, the team of doctors had to sedate him just to hold him still. I leaned him against me tucking his head below my chin. Bruce strapped the cuff in place, pumping the machine to get a read. The instant relief on bruce's face was enough to know that his BP was not too low.

Sighing he removed it, and gave a small smile, "looks like we are having our movie night after all" he said. Getting up he moved the medical bag from the table and placing on the floor he said "I think we can have our dinner and movie now, I will place the iv for transfusion once we get him settled into bed before sleeping." I nodded my head as nat passed us the plates and Jarvis started the movie. As predicted Tony drifted off after having eaten most of what was on his plate. But even as he fell into a restless slumber the hold he had on my shirt didn't loosen.


	8. Chapter 8

Steve's POV

The movie came to an end soon enough. It didn't seem like any of us were actually paying attention. The one person who actually had wanted to watch it was sleeping fitfully in my arms. Thor Bruce and Clint got up to clear the table as silently as possible while Nat and I sat without moving so as to not wake Tony from his slumber. Once they were done clearing up, Bruce pointed to the elevator indicating that we should head up. I nodded, "should I wake him?" I whispered? Too late, he roused on his own his hands going to rub his eyes.

"did I sleep through the whole movie again?" he said sleepily. "yeah you did, come on Tony it's time to head upstairs " I told him, not rushing him as I brushed my hands through his hair. He was slightly trembling from the cold, but Jarvis had increased the room temp to a much more comfortable level. He nodded rising to sit up straight.

"Thor do you wanna go spar?" Clint asked him urging him out, knowing not to crowd Tony. Thor agreed following him out. Bruce nodded at them as they left, "see you guys in the morning "

"see ya"

I pulled Tony upright supporting most of his weight, as nat picked up Tony's clothes still lying on the floor along with the blanket which she draped around Tony's shoulders. He huddled into it grasping the ends to prevent it from slipping.

"Tony?" I asked calling his name trying to wake him up a bit more, he was practically trudging by my side.

"hmm?"

"do you want to use the bathroom before Bruce puts in the iv?"

"I am fine, why can't I just drink the blood instead?" he whined

Natasha smacked the back of his head at that "that's disgusting, even for you"

"be nice kids" Bruce murmured.

I let Tony sink into the bed, before I pulled up the blanket over his torso.

"here, Tony the transfusion is going to take a couple of hours okay? So get comfortable."Bruce said handing Tony his memory foam pillow to help prop him up. I climbed over the bed and settled down on his right side, giving Bruce access to his left. Nat crawled in behind Tony, resting her head on his pillow.

"Bruce, I promise to eat healthy and take the pills, pleaseeee" Tony whined and I placed my hand over his arc reactor pinning him down knowing there was going to be a little struggle , "Tony, let Bruce do his job" I told him

"sir, would you like me to play some heavy metal?" bless Jarvis, even if we didn't always have the fore thought, Jarvis always did.

"no, what I would like is for you to work on a way to eradicate the use of fucking needles!" he was getting agitated from the nervousness. But the anger and snarky comments are a welcome emotion as compared to the whimpering mess he was last time.

"Steve, let me go! You don't have to imprison me" he glared, yup, definitely better than last time, but I didn't dare move my hand. If I did he was definitely going to run. He struggled a little, while Bruce went back downstairs to get the supplies, Tony was constantly shouting profanities, so I shut him off with a kiss. He succumbed to it, and once I released his lips, he was much more relaxed. But I could feel his heart hammering below my hand, under the reactor.

"Nat?" Bruce said walking in carrying a bag of blood for transfusion, Tony flinched at the sight, instantly going a sickly pale grey, "yeah?"

"here, can you hang this up on the bed post?" she nodded reaching her hand out to grab it. And that was enough for Tony to start hyperventilating.

Tony's POV

I had two hours of movie time to prepare myself mentally for this. But nothing was stopping the rapid breathing, I could feel the dizziness starting to cloud my vision as I desperately clung to Steve's chest trying to get away from the prying hands of Bruce.

"breathe Tony, come on baby. It's just an IV. You will feel better I promise, I need you to breathe" Steve was almost pleading, but I was unable to shake myself from the anxiety this is giving me. I felt someone tugging at my arm that was tucked between Steve and me.

"Tony come on, you need to take a deep breath, or you are going to pass out" I felt hands in my hair, hands pushing me down, and hands pulling my hand, and held tightly. I gasped as I felt the needle go in, my vision greying out, I felt myself go lax, Steve tapping my cheek.

"he's okay, let him sleep" I heard Bruce say, and the last thing I felt was hands brushing my hair, and Natasha's lips on my head as her hands pushed me to a more comfortable level on the bed.

Waking up the past few days has been a struggle, but this time there was extra effort involved. I felt and unusually shaky even though I knew I was already laying down. I felt hands smoothing the frown on my forehead.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" nat whispered, why was she whispering? I was awake now, I turned to look around the room and found the reason, Steve was curled up on the futon by the end of the room, he was wearing his jogging clothes, so at least I knew he has not been in that position for long, because that has got to hurt.

"mmm, weird" I said suddenly remembering how I had fallen asleep last night, I jerked my hand up to see the IV was no longer in place, only a little iron man band aid. Looking up, I saw no evidence of the transfusion in the room whatsoever. I sighed trying to rub the sleep out of my face.

"yeah, you are probably a little feverish right now from the transfusion, do you want to go back to sleep?" she said, pulling my hand away from my face. I nodded my head no, trying to get up, I was still feeling shaky, so she helped and propped me up by setting pillows behind my back.

I nodded my head towards Steve, about to ask how long he has been asleep but nat answered me before I even had the chance to say anything "he hasn't slept all night, just held u, the whole night. You slept rather fitfully. He was really worried Tony so were all of us. Thor stopped by this morning, he left some orange juice, are you up to it?" I nodded my head yes, my eyes still not leaving Steve. He looked downright exhausted even in his sleep, the guilt it kindled in me was like no other.

"I know you are scared Tony, trust me I understand it. But I need you to listen to me okay?" Natasha said handing me a glass of juice, as she sat back down and waiting until I took a sip and nodded trying to anticipate what she was going to say "this, you not taking care of yourself? Needs to stop. Or you need to at least let us take care of you. Do you know how worried Steve has been, he has been blaming himself for not taking better care of you. This time scary for all us to watch you fall sick, but it's not going to happen again, do you know why?" she asked waiting for me to look up, "because from now on, you are going to let us help you." She said with no place for argument, no place for even a nod as she firmly planted a kiss on my cheek and leaned back sitting against the headborad. I nodded my head anyway, the guilt now threatening to come out in the form of gasps. I felt the panic before I heard the gasps. Natasha's hands moved the glass out of my hand placing it on the nightstand. She pulled me into her embrace, as I struggled to escape her hold, she just held me tighter "let us help you Tony" she said firm enough to penetrate my panic addled brain, but low enough to not disturb Steve. I let myself relax in her hold, feeling her hand move up and down my back, until my breathing calmed.

"okay?" I nodded and she let go, placing the glass back in my hand

"thanks"

"always"


	9. Chapter 9

Steve's pov

Fury had given orders to bench Tony until his recovery and what is worse is that I agree with his decision. But the problem? I was yet to tell him. Tony needed to do things, he needed to keep busy or he would get edgy and antsy.

"Jarvis? Where is Tony?"

"welcome back captain, sir is down in the training center"

Well that's new. Tony hated training, or sparring. I sighed heading down the staircase to the training room. Walking through the glass doors to the where the bench presses. At first glance I didn't find him, only to discover he was currently lying on the bench his chest heaving and sweat shimmering across his forehead. While Tony had slept fitfully in my arms last night during the blood transfusion, Bruce had taken the time to explain what symptoms, clinical signs we should be looking out for in regards to his anemic state. He had explained that the most obvious signs would be the fatigue, difficulty in breathing which in Tony's case would be worse, since his lung capacity is already reduced from the arc reactor being lodged in his chest cavity. But the sickly Grey color he was turning now lying on the bench taking big gulps of air, showed just how low his blood counts had to be for the lack of oxygen transport to be so low. I quickly made my way across the room but made sure to do so noisily so as to not startle him. He turned his head towards, giving me a whiny grunt of frustration. He was sprawled on the narrow bench, his arms hanging off the sides hitting the floor, I lifted him up off the bench and sat down on the floor his head in my lap., sighing I ran my hands through his hair and just sat there talking nonsense until I felt his breathing even out, and his color returned to his face. Tilting his chin up, I kissed him on the lips, before repositioning him so that he was now sitting up against my chest and we were both leaning against the bench.

"I didn't even last twenty Minutes" he whined lifting his hand up to tug his sweat soaked shirt off.

"Bruce told you that it's going to be like this for a while, just until things get back on track" I told him calmly, as I pulled his shirt over his head. His breathing still a bit too fast, the reactor was moving up and down faster than normal, shifting my hand over the reactor I pulled the foot stool with my foot closer and raised tony's legs to put them on it, Trying to get his blood flowing back a little faster. Tony was very pliant to all my ministrations, unusually so. Come to think of it, he was being extra good listening to everyone all day today, which obviously only worries me more because this side of Tony is a rare thing to witness, and the last time he had been this good was when he had flown through the portal and given me heart attack, but later I realized that he was only trying to be compliant with all the poking and prodding so as to not worry me further.

Which does nothing to quell my rising suspicion that Tony was being complaint only because he knew I was really worried for his health.

"do you want to head upstairs and lie down for a bit?" he had actually been adament about staying awake all day, even though Bruce had said he will become tired often and needs rest. He shook his head no

"let's go out" what?

"go where?" I asked him giving a quizzical look. not sure where this was coming from, but he really needed to get some rest, and knowing tony he is not going to give in until he gets what he wants.

"I just need to get out, for a while. Let's go to that Italian place across town, I know you love that place." He said looking up with pleading eyes like he just knew I was going to suggest otherwise. I sighed closing my eyes, I felt his hands tugging my head down as he tried to kiss me, it was more of a quick peck before I pulled back, knowing he was straining his neck to reach up. I opened my eyes to his pursed lips and frown. Smiling, I snuggled him closer to me carefully minding the burns pulling his feet off the stool, I could feel the heat emanating from his skin, he still had a fever from the transfusion but he was too proud to admit it.

"tell you what, I would love to go" he beamed up like a little child his eyes twinkling "after we have a quick nap, because I am sore from yesterday's clean up" I winked at him as he sulked pouting. I pulled him up with me picking up his shirt in the process. He would need more antibiotic cream applied on his burns anyways, so no point putting his shirt back on.

Tony's pov

"here, why don't you put the cream on the burns and I'll go get changed okay?" Steve said handing the tube to me, I took it from him and sat down on the edge of the bed. Uncapping the cream I smeared some on the irritated skin, and picked out a 'going out' shirt and put it on in hopes of persuading Steve into getting out of the tower. I was not tired! It had been a good three days since I had got any work done. I was yet to figure out how to deal with the overloaded arc reactor that still sat in my lab. But I knew everyone was on babysitting duty today preventing me from going down to the lab. Which was I chose to go to the training center. But look what it did to me, my chest was still sore and achy.

Steve came out in his khakis and a plain shirt, looking pointedly at me he asked "did you really put the antibiotic cream on?" he raised an eyebrow in suspicion. I raised my hand up to my forehead saluted "scouts honor" he smirked as he collapsed onto the bed beside me pulling me down next to him, I whined at that "I am not tired! And I most definitely don't need a nap"

"of course not, but this old man here is tired and definitely requires a nap" he said gesturing at himself "and he most certainly would love it if his boyfriend helped him with this slumber party" I rolled my eyes but put my head down on his chest Anyway.

"so what did Fury want to talk to you about?" I felt him stiffen ever so slightly under me, his hand moving to the back of my neck playing with the ends of my hair. He was coddling me. Meaning, whatever fury had to say was something in regard to me which Steve had felt the need to not tell me about yet.

"Fury, and I" he emphasized "feel it would be better if you did not participate in any gruesome battles, just until you are feeling better" what?!

"you are benching me!? Steve, that is not fair! I am perfectly fine!" but I knew there was no point arguing about this because I knew they were right. I was a liability to them.

"Tony, be reasonable." How though? Everything was being taken away from me, the team made sure I was not allowed in the lab(including Jarvis) , now I am not allowed on the battle field, all because I needed the rest! but I don't want to rest! I am fine Goddammit!

"I can't just do nothing Steve!" I was getting fidgety, Steve pulled me over him, so I was now lying directly on top of him my head resting on his chest, I could feel his heart beating strong and steady like a rock.

"close your eyes" he said instead, I did. Because I didn't know what else to do, this was getting absurd.

"Steve, I don't know what's happening with me" I felt him take a deep breath and exhale

"Nothing is happening with you, you are fine. And we are all here to help you through this okay? I know you are not used to sitting idle, we will fix that, I promise. This is only going to be for a few weeks and then you can go back to being the man who gives me a minor heart attack on a daily basis." I snorted at that looking lifting my head up to look at him.

"I can't help it if the old man can't handle me" I stuck my tongue out

"close your eyes" I whined

"I am not tired!" I lifted myself up on his chest moving forward to capture his lips. Kissing me back, I felt him slowly shift underneath me his hands tugging on my shirt. I grinned against his lips as he flipped us both so my back was now flush against the bed and Steve was hovering just cms above me.

"close your eyes, tony" he said while tracing the exposed skin on my neck with his lips, this time I did.

Steve's pov

Contrary to all his claims that he was not tired, Tony was out like a light in less than ten minutes of the subtle love making session. He was most certainly a handful, I smiled to myself before snuggling in closer tucking his head under my chin before catching a quick nap.

Twenty minutes later, found Clint shaking me awake but being careful not to jostle Tony. I blinked a couple times clearing my vision

"Bruce wants us to meet him down in the lab stat"

"what's going on?" I asked, slowly and carefully untangling from Tony, just as I tried to get up off the bed, I felt Tony's hand tightly grasping the tail end of my shirt, I looked up to see if I had woken him, but he was still asleep. Clint snickered and I glared at him before he said something that would wake Tony up. I unbuttoned the shirt sliding it off and dropped it on the bed, Tony still holding it tight. Walking to the dresser I pulled out another shirt, put it on and motioned towards Clint to head out.

"so what's this about?" I asked him again, following him down the stairs to the lab.

"Jarvis said something about tony's arc reactor which is currently acting unstable" I swallowed, hoping it was not all bad news.


	10. Chapter 10

Tony's pov

It was a normal day, as normal as things were now. I found myself lazing around the common room my mind running a mile a minute, trying to understand how to best use the energy contained in my reactor.

The blaring alarm snapped me out of the thought process, I jumped up from the couch, running to towards the elevator, but it didn't open.

"Jarvis!"

"captain Rogers has given me orders to keep you within the tower sir, you are currently in no shape to be fighting a battle" I grunted, my hands itching to smash something.

"Jarvis, override orders" I said firmly but the elevator didn't open.

"Jarvis! What the hell?" I shouted in frustration glaring at the camera in the left corner of the ceiling.

The elevator dinged and opened, I turned to step in but collided into a fully battle ready Steve carrying his shield followed by a slightly haggard Clint who looked like he had just woken up from sleep but was still on high alert his eyes tracking all small movements happening around him.

Steve grabbed me by my upper arms and pushed me back out of the elevator as Natasha and Bruce came running down the stairs two at a time.

"did Fury brief you yet?"nat asked pushing a gun into her boot.

"Fury will brief us in ten, quinjet in the air by three" he said in his captain America voice. They nodded heading out towards the quinjet landing pad. But Steve had his arm wrapped around my forearm as he waited for the rest to leave.

"Tony, I need you to stay here okay?"

"Steve! No! I can help, don't bench me on this please"

"I am sorry but this is not up for discussion, you are staying here." He said again using his captain America voice as he just nodded and left in a jog towards the jet.

I sulked. Physically sulked, falling into the couch. "would you like me to bring up a live feed of the happenings, sir?" Jarvis asked and I nodded my head no still too angry and sulky to care, if the avengers didn't want him there then he was not going to care.

Thirty minutes into me sulking and solving the sudoku in the paper, Jarvis spoke again "sir, you are going to want to see this" I jumped to my feet as Jarvis bought up the feed. I felt my blood run cold at what Jarvis was showing me. There she was, lying under the rubble of what looked like a collapsed building, there was so much blood, blood that was essential for a person to stay alive. And then I noticed it, the small twitch in her fingers and that's all I needed.

"Jarvis prep the mark 7"

"Yes sir"

I ran to the launch pad just as the suit came up. My heart was hammering in my chest, as Jarvis took me to the location where nat was now lying in her own blood.

But just as I made it, got closer to help her, the twitch in her fingers stopped and her eyes slipped closed.

"Natasha! Come on, I am here to help you! Come on Tasha! Open your eyes! Jarvis get me her vitals "

"sir I am unable to detect a heart beat" no! No no no! How is that possible, this is Natasha for godsake, if anyone could handle a battle solo, it was her!

"nat, come on open your eyes" the armor released, and I pulled her into my embrace, her blood soaking my hands. She didn't move. She didn't give any witty remarks, her face was a kind of pale that was scarier than the typical Natasha glare.

"nat!" I begged shaking her, this wouldn't have happened if I was there watching from the air, if only I had been there

"nat please"

"Tony!"

I could feel my heart in my throat, my vision clouding, I couldn't breathe. I should have been there.

"Tony, babe, what's wrong?"

I could feel hands on me, pulling me away form her, I gasped unable to breathe but it didn't matter, Natasha mattered.

"Tony, wake up!"

"Clint run down to medical and grab oxygen, his lips are turning blue"

"Tony, you need to breathe buddy, wake up, common"

"Jarvis what is his BP? Temp?"

I struggled against the hands holding me, couldn't they see? Natasha was dead. Why were they not helping.

"Natasha! NO!"

Pain ripped into my face, and suddenly, there was no Natasha, no battle, I forced my eyes open, searching. Searching for Natasha.

"Tony! Are you back with us? Focus on me, here Tony" I felt hands cupping my neck turning my face until my gaze locked with blue ones. Steve. Steve will know what to do, Steve will help her, steve is captain America after all.

"Steve! Natasha is in trouble, we need to help her! Why aren't you helping her! "I screamed but Steve still wasn't moving but at least he looked concerned.

Steve's pov

"it doesn't matter" Bruce shook his head no and continued "our best option right now is to get this out of our atmosphere. It's getting more unstable by the day. I say we let thor have a go, he is most likely to understand what it is."

"Tony would never agree to just hand over the reactor to the Team, let alone some alien he has no idea about." Nat made a good point, but I was more inclined towards Bruce's idea, for once we wouldn't have to deal with it. We were already short of one genius brain, and it's not going to be fair on putting all pressure on Bruce to figure it out.

"so why can't we transfer the energy to a different container, you know? Then hand it over to the norse gods" Clint asked his face scrunched up like when he is trying to understand the science talk between Tony and Bruce.

"the reason this thing has not yet exploded on us, is because it's being contained by the arc reactor. Trying to shift the energy will make it all the more unstable. There is no telling what amount of damage it can cause. Also, currently the best technology to house the energy at the moment is only the arc reactor, we have not been able to come up with anything with more capacity."

"if I may interrupt" Jarvis said suddenly "sir seems to under some kind of distress and is in need of dire attention"

I sputtered, putting my coffee mug down, everyone doing the same after. "what's happening Jarvis?" I asked as I took the stairs two at a time.

"he seems to be experiencing a panic attack caused by a nightmare , and I am unable to rouse him"

What I saw broke my heart, Tony was lying in the middle of the bed, trashing and gasping for air. But his eyes were closed, he was clutching my t-shirt like a lifeline and just as I ran to him he let out a scream which came out more strangled from lack of air 'nat! Please'

"Tony!" my hands hovering over him, unable to touch knowing it may make the situation worse.

"Tony! Wake up"

I looked up at my frozen team mates , all in a state of shock. Bruce was the first to move, he pushed at Clint snapping him out of the shock

"Clint run down to medical and grab oxygen, his lips are turning blue!" I stared down in horror realizing Bruce was right.

I grabbed him, trying to rouse him, but he was still trashing around "Tony, you need to breathe buddy, wake up, common" Bruce said as he held Tony's wrist feeling his pulse.

"Jarvis what is his BP? Temp?"

"BP is 160 over 110 and rising. His temperature is 99 degrees farenheit"

Bruce motioned for me to pick him up, but as I moved he let out another scream more clearer than last time "Natasha! NO!" And for a second time we froze, wanting to understand what was happening in Tony's dream and why he had screamed for Natasha. He was trembling all over and that was it, I needed to do something now! So I slapped him. Hard. Across his cheek. But that did it, his eyes snapped open and he sat up straight gasping for breathe, his lips still blue but his eyes were not focusing, they were searching for something, I didn't know what he was looking for "Tony! Are you back with us? Focus on me, here Tony" I said wrapping my hand around the back of his neck and forced him to look at me. His eyes locked onto me in a moment of recognition and he raised his hands grasping at my shirt

"Steve! Natasha is in trouble, we need to help her! Why aren't you helping her! " I looked at Natasha, she shrugged moving forward into Tony's field of vision

"Tony? Hey, I am not in any trouble okay, I am right here, I am okay " his breathing was erratic, his eyes snapped towards Natasha's voice and he jerked back shuffling away from us. Clint came running in carrying a cylinder and a mask handing it over to Bruce.

he seemed awake now, more aware of what was happening, I sat down on the bed reaching out to him, he looked somewhat confused though "Tony, hey look at me" I said gently holding his hand and waited for him to look at me. His eyes reluctantly left Natasha's and turned to me. "natasha is fine, it was just a dream okay?" he turned his head back to Nat just staring long and hard like he was missing some information. Natasha crawled onto the bed next to him and he immediately latched onto her hand like a little child "I am okay Tony, see?" he nodded as Bruce passed the mask to Natasha who gently placed it around his face. He made a face but didn't protest. I moved to sit behind him, to prop him against my chest while his breathing was becoming steadier by the minute his eyes never leaving Natasha's even once.

"you with us now tones?" Clint asked and I felt Tony nodding against my chest.

Bruce and Clint settled around us on the bed while Nat stayed put not daring to disturb the link Tony had created between them.

I don't know what his nightmare was about, but it had to be bad if it left him shaking and trembling like this. No one spoke anything for ten minutes, the only sound was that of Tony's rattling breath. Every two minutes he nodded off only to startle awake until his gaze found Natasha again. Eventually his color returned, his breathing evened out and the mask was removed.

"Tony?" I asked him softly so as to not startle him,

"mm"

"are you feeling better?" I asked brushing my hands through his hair, it was sticking out in every direction possible from all the trashing around on the bed. Once it looked tame enough I dropped a kiss on his head waiting for him to say anything at all.

"please don't bench me, I could have saved her" he said his voice small but his hold on nat tightened and she frowned at me. Realization hit us at the same time as to what exactly Tony might have had the nightmare about.


	11. Chapter 11

Steve's POV

It had been three hours since Tony's panic attack/nightmare. He was adamant to not go back to sleep even after all the reassurances that Natasha was in fact perfectly fine. So we had decided to go out to the little Italian place across town after all. But on one condition, Natasha was to come. I have never seen tony be so clingy to anyone before. This was new territory for us all and nat didn't dare deny the invitation ,not while tony was feeling this vulnerable. Tony came bounding down the stairs dressed in Jean's and a shirt , while nat and I waited for him in the lobby having taken the elevator. He walked over smirking ,but unable to hide the panting from taking the stairs. He refused to use the elevator needing to prove something to himself. I rolled my eyes at him holding up the jacket he had 'conveniently' forgotten.

"what will I ever do without you?" he asked taking the jacket and putting it on.

"You probably would be a little less child and a little ,just a little more of an adult if steve wasn't there to pamper you as much" nat said walking ahead towards the door.

Tony shrugged "possibly" he said winking at me ,I rolled my eyes again, I doubt anything could make tony be more responsible when it came to taking care of himself.

Tony pushed forward ahead of nat reaching for the car door on the driver's side.

"what do you think you are doing?" nat said in her best intimidating voice. I saw the hair on the back Tony's neck stand up as he froze for a second before turning around and saying "driving" then turned to me "what's her problem?" he said raising as eyebrow. Nat grabbed his shirt by the collar with one hand and reached for the keys with her other. She pushed him into me, pulling the door open and started the engine all the while tony was glaring at her his lips pursed to form a pout. I had to admit that was an adorable look on his face .

"come on" I said manhandling him into the backseat with me, "let's not give natasha a reason to kill us today" she turned back smirking and winked.

Tony settled down after five whole minutes of trying to get comfortable, it took me those five minutes to realize why.

"is your side still hurting?" I asked frowning

"no." he was still glowering in general at not being allowed to drive , I rolled my eyes ,he was so stubborn.

Tony's POV

This place was basically any other average Italian place, I didn't understand why steve liked it but hey whatever keeps my man happy. Steve had already denied the waiters offer to get anything alcoholic. So we were sitting Sipping the fine 'mint flavored cold tea' urgh! So disgusting. And what was worse was that nat was blaming me for the lack of alcohol.

"why am I being denied alcohol, I am not the one who is sick!"

"neither am I" I said frowning at steve. Steve didn't seem to care though, mostly because he loved Italian and was shoving down the pizza like it was paper. Fifteen more minutes of arguing turned into a deep seated argument about pineapples on pizza. Why did I invite nat again? Oh right ,I shuddered at the unforgettable nightmare edging unconsciously closer to her only realizing it when she very subtly placed her hand on my thigh in reassurance.

But I had to admit, it was nice being out after being cooped up in the first for the past three days. A generous tip later, we were already headed out towards the car, apparently small places did not have a valet service. But I really didn't want to leave yet, it was only nine .

"want to take a walk in the park there ?" yess! I knew there was a reason we brought natasha!

"Yes please" I said trying to sound nonchalant but it came out in a slightly higher pitch, giving away the excitement. Steve smiled at me sweetly before wrapping his arm around my shoulder . The park itself was not huge ,but it was nice and secluded. We walked one round around the park before settling down on a bench facing the small pond.

Nat broke the silence five minutes later " so, now that we have established that I am indeed very much in one piece ,wanna talk about what happened in that nightmare of yours?" ever so direct! I felt Steve's arm wrap tighter around me ,encouraging. I sighed taking a deep a breath after ,I could feel both of their eyes watching me .

"Please don't bench me ,steve"

"we talked about this tony , ri-"

"I know, but steve ,nat died! She died in my arms while I sat there unable to do anything all the while knowing if I had been there , been the teams eyes from the sky I could have helped her" I could feel my heart hammering in my chest, the dream was so vivid ,I could practically feel the dream physically and that was a weird feeling. It scared me, because it felt too real.

"tony look at me" nat said in that gentle voice but yet so commanding. Both steve and nat had this quality ,they could probably get the enemy to switch sides just by modulating their tone.

"we signed up for this job, everyone knows the risks . If anything were to happen to any of us, in no way is it anyone's fault. No one is responsible. We are family and we look out for each other when we can and when it's possible. But that doesn't mean anyone is going to take blame ,do you understand?" I was starting to feel like a child who was getting a lecture but I nodded anyway.

"there is one way you can help us though" steve said his hand moving up and down my back

"what's that?" I asked frowning still feeling childish

"you can get better by taking better care of yourself, the sooner that number on your blood test rises the sooner you are back on the team." I opened my mouth to argue – "and I know you are trying ,but I want you to let us help you babe"

"I already agreed to this" I said irritated ,it was getting cold and this was not the conversation I wanted to have. Steve gave a questioning look at me, but nat beat me to it " tony and I had a very quick conversation about this while you were asleep" steve made an "ah" sound nodding his head and kissed me on my cheek.

"well then I guess you have been schooled" he teased

"I am not a child! Stop treating me like one" okay so I was really starting to get annoyed now. And the cold was biting into my fingers but I didn't want to say anything because then steve will make them leave.

"no you are not, but sometimes you act like one" nat said smirking at me as she got up from the bench picked up a stone and skipped it across the pond.

"okay that was lame! I can do better in my sleep!" steve said as he got up to pick up another stone. I shivered at the loss of warmth but perked up at the turn of conversation.I sat and watched them both one up each other throwing stones feeling my eyes drift shut ,maybe I was tired but this was nice.

"-ny" yeah felt good to be out

"tony,you okay babe?" what? Oh yeah I must have dozed off

"yeah fine" I said straightening up on the bench and hugging myself ever so subtly.

Steve shares a look with nat as they both made their way back to me ,steve sat down beside me his hand going to my hair brushing it back from my forehead and I felt myself lean into the warmth

"want to try that again?" he said raising an eyebrow.

"its getting a little cold" I said shrugging defensively.

"time to go then come on" I whined as he pulled me up tucking me by his side. And nat walked close enough to block the wind on the other side.

Steve's POV

"its getting a little cold" yup, it definitely was and I should have probably thought of that earlier . I pulled him with me tucking him into my side hiding him from the wind as nat covered him on the other side. The park was empty now , not a soul in sight and just as we were about to reach the gate I caught a glimpse of the bright headlight that was headed towards us. I didn't have time to think before the three of us ran back on instinct to avoid getting run over . But the car didn't stop infact it sped up and we managed to split up in the nick of time , I felt myself rolling onto the grass , my arms trying to protect tony from the impact of the impromptu Swan dive . But before we had a chance to get back up ,there was loud clang , the driver was waving a gun at us, rather at Tony who was still halfway from getting up brushing his pants.

"tony! Look out!" he shot at tony before tony even had a chance to look up, on instinct I jumped towards him ,colliding into him trusting nat to take care of the shooter . Tony went tumbling over the bricks into the water with a yelp.

"steve secure the scene ,I got him" I nodded at her, my eyes scanning the area for any more shooters .

"all clear, you need help?"

"he's all mine, get tony" she said and I watched for a few seconds just to make sure , she pressed the man's face into the grass grabbing his hair effectively pinning him onto ground before knocking him out with the butt of the gun she confiscated from him.

I heard tony cough behind me, and I quickly turned jogging to him as he pulled himself out of the water soaking wet glaring at me "give a guy some warning next time" he said spitting out water.

"tell that to the bad guys" I said as I ran my hands over him just to make sure he was okay, he was shaking like a leaf his teeth starting to chatter.

He shrugged my hands off running a hand through his hair trying to get the water out. But when he put his hand down again his finger rips came back bloody , he didn't seem to have noticed it just rubbing his hands together to get warm. I could hear natasha talking to someone on the phone ,probably shield.

"you are bleeding" I told him guiding him to sit down on the bench we were sitting on earlier.

"huh?" he said confused , shuffling to see what I was talking about. "sit still for a sec okay" I told him as I stabilized his head with one hand and used the other to sift through his hair to find the injury. It was not too deep, wouldn't need stitches , but it was still bleeding heavily .I pulled a kerchief I always carried out of my jacket putting it over the wound, I grabbed his hand placing it over the cloth "hold this for me" I told him squatting in front of him and lifted his chin up to study his face. He looked pissed but other wise okay

"it's anything else hurting? Are you okay?" I watched his face for any change in emotion to indicate otherwise but he seemed okay "who the fuck was that ?" he said turning to look at the man now laying unconscious on the ground. Natasha was standing over him one leg on his back just in case she turned towards us still on the phone "is he okay? Do I need to call for medical?"

Before tony could vigorously nod his head no and claim his was fine I told her " minor cut on his head, he will survive" she pursed her lips before studying tony"s face herself and nodded her attention back to the person on the phone.

I shrugged off my jacket dropping it next to tony ,before turning towards him "take off your jacket and shirt" he gave me a 'ARE YOU CRAZY' look

"your clothes are soaking wet ,come on , I don't want you to become hypothermic" I said reaching for the zipper on his jacket ,he let me slip it off his shoulders but resisted when I tried to take off his shirt .

"Tony come on, you are trembling " I said as I forcefully pulled the shirt up over his head and he immediately covered up the arc reactor with his hands "Steve!" he growled ,oh that's why he didn't want it off. I helped him quickly put on my jacket ,he was practically swimming inside it but at least it was not wet . I checked his head wound again just to make sure , the bleeding was already reducing.

I grabbed his hand again putting it on his head , before bending over to pull his shoes and socks off. We needed to get him out the cold fast.

Natasha came over putting her phone in her pocket, " are you okay tony?" he nodded curtly lifting his foot up obediently while I pulled his socks off.

"shield will be here in five , take him in for questioning . Looks like he was targeting tony , let's see what he has to say."

"okay, were you injured?" I asked looking up to make sure, " I am good, although we should probably get this one back home ,he's due for his iron shot and Bruce is not going to be happy knowing he's lost more blood" she said pushing Tony's hand aside to get a look at his cut before letting him cover it up again.

" I am right here ,you know!" tony quipped but she ignored him

"why don't you both head back to the tower, I'll wait for shield ,help wrap this up and join you?"

"absolutely not!" tony bellowed "we are not going anywhere" she gave an exasperated look before glaring at him "okay ,you both stay here while I go get the car , so we can put your trembling ass in the car while we wait ,sound good?" tony nodded shuddering some more, I sighed as I angled myself more in front of tony but also to keep the unconscious man in my line of sight. I rubbed my hands around Tony's toes trying to warm him up a little more .

"did nat check for an ID on him?" he asked pointing his jaw towards the attacker.

"I am sure she did" I said noticing the way tony was slightly listing forward "you okay?"

He dropped his hand from holding the cloth to his head and rubbed at his eyes " a little lightheaded" he said .I pushed his knees together before forcing his head down into it. My hand rubbing his back as I checked his head again. It was still bleeding a little so I grabbed the kerchief and pressed it onto his head, he winced "sorry"

"s'fine" he mumbled.

Natasha was back just as shield entered the scene. One of the agents immediately jogged up to us asking us if we were okay and handing us a water bottle. I thanked him reassuring him that we were fine.

Tony was starting to drift off, I shook him a little waking him up, "time to go babe, think you can stand?" he rolled his eyes at me, pushed my hands off his shoulders and walked towards the car. He slipped into the back seat and curled in relishing the heat that natasha had put on full blast.

"will you be okay for a minute?" I asked him but he was already falling back asleep so I let him be asking one of the agents to stand guard by the car while nat and I did a round up briefing with the agents.

It took another half hour to round up everything and another half hour to reach the tower. Jarvis suggested parking the car in the basement so I could just carry tony upstairs to the bedroom.

"Jarvis can you have Bruce meet us upstairs in a few minutes?"

"of course captain "

I lifted him into my arms , he didn't even stir and that was a testament as to how wiped out he must be. He's going to have a massive headache tomorrow.

"nat go brief Clint and thor , Bruce and myself will come join you in a few" she nodded getting off the elevator on the common floor. I adjusted my grip on tony as he shifted a little in my arms. I dropped him gently on the bed pulling off his still damp pants and my jacket. I placed a towel on the pillow before dropping his head onto it to avoid staining it with blood. He sighed in his sleep getting comfortable.

"hey, Jarvis told us what happened. Is he okay? Do we know why he was attacked?" Bruce said coming in sitting on the bed by tony giving him a once over.

"we don't know anything yet, shield has him right now. We just wanted to get him settled first" I said gesturing to Tony . Bruce nodded his hands parting Tony's hair to look at the wound ,tony squirmed still asleep a low whine forming in his throat. " did he lose consciousness?"

"No he seemed mostly fine just cold from the water"

"do you know if he swallowed any of the water? His breathing sounds a little raspy"

Now that Bruce mentioned it, his breathing did seem rough, like it was rattling in his chest "he didn't expect the sudden dunk into the water ,so probably yes" Bruce checked his pulse, nodding to himself.

"he will be okay, just need to keep an eye out for any chest infections. He has not had his iron shot today ,I'll go get it. Hopefully he will sleep right through it"

And surprisingly he did sleep through it , he roused a bit but fell asleep again before realizing what was happening. Bruce left with a promise of checking in on him tomorrow morning . I changed my clothes before snuggling up to him mindful of his burns and asked Jarvis to crank the heat up.

"how is he?" natasha said coming in holding some files in her hand and I realized I had told her I would meet her downstairs but had forgotten.

"worn out" I said lifting my head up to smile at her.

"how did he take the shot?" she sat down on the edge of the bed pulling her legs up "like a champ" I said sitting up and she gave me a 'yeah right' look and I grinned

"slept right through it"

"ah, maybe we can use this next time, you know wear him out a little"

She handed me a picture from the file ,it was labeled "John straddle, age 49, arrested for attempted murder"

"this is all we know for now about the attacker. He's not talking , we will go first thing tomorrow morning,see if he will open up to me and clint." I nodded handing the picture back

"for now we need to have protective detail on tony at all times, probably best if he didn't know about it ,will make it easier on the poor agents." I said smirking ,and she laughed quietly.

"I'll work out the details , make sure you get some rest .Tomorrow is going to be a long day" she said as she left.


	12. prompt request!

hey guys!

sorry if you feel like this story is just dragging on!

so this was honestly my first attempt at writing anything at all. Somehow finding it hard to give an end to this storyline. Is it just me or does this happen to everyone?  
I would really appreciate it if you could leave some prompts/ideas.  
thanks in advance! 


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